Too Hot

I feel like such a bad person writing this, or even thinking this, because I love love love summer, and I would much rather have too hot a summer than no summer at all (thinking of my poor beleaguered friends in London, who seem to have been suffering through Winter Part Two: Revenge of the Skies up until this weekend). All that said, it really has just been far too hot. Too hot to do anything, particularly:

Cook
Entertain
Be entertaining
Work
Sleep
Wear clothes (I have been, but with great reluctance)
Groom (too hot for makeup, too hot to blow dry my hair...the 'natural' look has become my go-to this summer)
Socialise
Eat
Hug
Write

Despite the extensive list I've been busy, because I love summer and I'm not going to waste a single second of it and this is going to be the best.summer.ever, you hear me?* So I've been having a great time, but (I realize now) was getting kind of exhausted, especially because it's been too hot to sleep every night.

Thankfully, we had a storm late last week that broke the heat, and even enjoyed a relatively chilly, dreary day on Friday. H1 and I spent that night cuddled up on the sofa, watching a lighthearted comedy**. I was tired and scared and sad about the tragedy in Colorado, and it was so nice to have a night off, and to be able to hug my husband without sweating all over him.

On Saturday we had a wedding in the Catskills, overlooking a gorgeous lake. The weather was perfect and the wedding was beautiful:

In the Catskills

Me and H1 (you'll note I went all out and wore makeup)

We danced and ate cake and took photos, then stayed with some friends and stayed up too late drinking port and having silly conversations and gossiping. The next day we hopped a train back to the city and lazed around all afternoon, with H1 watching Formula 1 and me reading the Times. It all starts up again this week, with something on every single night from tomorrow, so I'm really glad that I chilled out a little this weekend. I feel like I've hit a 'reset' button, and I am ready to go again!

*Being Type A is hard sometimes.
**Something Borrowed - one of my favorite girly movies. I know 'lighthearted comedy' is an interesting description to apply to a movie about betrayal and cheating, but it is really, all things considered.

Food, Glorious Food

I knew I liked the Upper West Side, but making the move uptown has made me realize that actually, I love the UWS (yeah, that's what the cool kids call it). The place is freaking amazing, so amazing I'm having trouble formulating my thoughts into anything even resembling coherence. Apologies in advance if this post just breaks down into me spurting random words. River! Park! Food!

I'm going to have to break the UWS PDA down into several posts to avoid this, I think, and seeing as it's almost constantly on my mind, food seems as good a place as any to start. If I had any concerns about the new place prior to moving, they were to do with the kitchen (obviously, they should have been about the movers breaking my stuff, or the dodgy oven blowing up my house, but hey, that's why they call it hindsight). In the old place, we had a pretty sweet kitchen - not perfect, but it was open to the living room, had enough counter and cupboard space, a really good (and large) oven, a really good (and large) fridge, and a dishwasher. My new kitchen...well, a picture is the best way to explain it:

You're not missing anything. There's not secretly more kitchen on the right hand side of the image, just out of frame, or anything. On the left is the bathroom, and on the right is the kitchen (and on the door is New Zealand. Represent). This is it - one minuscule (but thankfully new and non-gassy) oven, one minuscule fridge, a few cupboards, and about two square foot of counter space, total. Sometimes, to entertain myself, I like to imagine how the floor plan might have originally looked:

(In my mind, the architect is obviously so crap he can't be bothered marking doors, stairs, power points, or any of the other stuff one would rightly expect to find in a dwelling).

So, long story short, it's a small kitchen. It's a clever kitchen - the space inside the cupboards is very well utilized - but it's small. And I like to cook, like, a LOT. My concerns were fair.

Fair, but unnecessary. Now that the trauma of moving is over, and the scary gassy stove has been replaced, I'm cooking up quite the storm, and it is fine. I have even entertained twice, and that was fine too, although I won't be volunteering to cook a 15 pound turkey any time soon (or even not so soon - Thanksgiving fare will be rethought). And you know what is better than fine? The shops. The shops are so much better than fine.

Murray Hill (my former 'hood) was kind of a culinary desert. There was plenty that was accessible enough - Eataly, Trader Joes, and Whole Foods were all a pleasant walk away - but popping out to quickly grab anything was an exercise in futility, inevitably culminating in a mini-breakdown in D'Agostino as I paid well over the odds for a decidedly average looking head of broccoli. It just wasn't a foodie sort of place, probably because it was a fratty kind of place, and from what I know of frat boys*, cooking and eating well are not top priorities.

Thankfully, the UWS does not have this problem. I knew (head tilt, nose in the air, snooty voice) that H1 and I would probably find more of 'our kind of people**' uptown, but I didn't realize just how much I would enjoy it. Within ten blocks of our place, there is a Trader Joes and no fewer than four*** different markets, which are rapidly earning nicknames from me (Carb Heaven, the colorful one, the cheap one, the organic one). There's a farmer's market on Saturdays in one place, and one on Sundays in another place. There are multiple bakeries. There is a place just for desserts. And I haven't even got to the restaurants...

People up here care about food the way I care about food, and that matters. It's definitely up there on the list of things that make me love my new home. And it definitely outweighs a small kitchen, because when you can stop on the way home, grab some beautiful, fresh, organic (!) veges, pay a reasonable amount, then cook a delicious dinner in said kitchen, you don't even notice the size.

*All information gleaned from American movies and two years of observing them in the wild.

**Over the age of 25, for a start.

***Actually, there are definitely more than four - but so far I have only checked four out.

A New York City Move: A Study in Emails, Texts, and Lists

- I let them know we weren't renewing the lease. They'll start showing the place before we move out.
- Cool

- Do we both need to be there to sign the new lease?
- Yes
- @#^&
- On my way

- Do we both need to be there to hand over the checks?
- No. I'll do it.
- Thanks sweets xx

- Took me 43 minutes at the bank to get the checks.
- That's ridiculous! All done now?
- Yep.
- Thanks. Yay! (Sort of).

- Movers dropped off the boxes. We can start packing tonight.
- Awesome?
- I mean, awesome!
- Did you ask them about bedbug protection? And insurance?
- Yes, all sorted.

TO DO:

1. paint new place
2. pick up new keys from super
3. finish packing

- So excited to explore our new neighborhood!
- Me too. It's going to be so great.

TO DO:

1. buy paint
2. buy painting accessories
3. paint new place
4. pick up new keys from super
5. finish packing
6. check out new neighborhood and amenities

- I have to go to DC tomorrow.
- Oh okay, cool. I'll pack up the kitchen and watch a boy movie.
- Awesome. Thanks!

TO DO:

1. sort out dinner
2. finish packing
3. clean house
4. hand keys back
5. sort out new place
6. sort out cat
7. check out new neighborhood and amenities
8. get money for moving company

- Hi Haley, thanks for your call. I can't come out today sorry, but can tomorrow. Let me know if you need me to come sort out the couch.

- Hi Haley, thanks for your call. None of our guys are working today, but I might be able to help. Let me know if you need a hand still.

- Yes please! It's a furniture emergency. Hayley

- Okay Haley, I'll come down. There'll be a $100 extra charge because it's a Sunday, and I only take cash.

- Okay, thanks. Hayley.

- Where are you? x

- Just got in cab. Old place clean. Cat and I en route. How's the new place looking?

- Messy. Couch is in though.

- Awesome. What did the movers say about the desk?

- Not a lot. It's munted, we'll have to get a new one.

- Grrrr.

- Yep.

- I still can't get rid of that funny smell.

- I can't smell it.

- It's awful. Trust me, it smells.

- The oven's broken. They're going to replace it.

- Good. That gas was awful.

- I'm scared to use it. I'll do a salad tonight.

- They're trying to fix the oven again.

- Weren't they going to replace it?

- Have to try everything.

- Grrr.

- There's no supermarket near our new place!

- There is, there's a Gristedes at 86 and Broadway.

- Ew. Gristedes is gross.

- Yep, but it'll do for emergencies.

- Have you seen a liquor store on your travels?

- No, but there's bound to be one near.

- The oven fixing didn't work. They're going to replace it.

- I think we finally won over the weird smell. Or I'm used to it now.

- They've disconnected the old oven. New one will be here next week.

- Salad for dinner?

- Sounds bueno. xx

- There's a wine store on Broadway. It's kind of weird though.

- ??

- Strange layout. And poor selection.

- It'll do.

- We need to find a new wine store.

- Yeah, I didn't rate that sav last night.

- Me either. The hunt goes on!

- Any word about the oven?

- Still nothing. Salad for dinner? xx

- New oven will definitely be in tomorrow.

- Cool. Our plants have arrived also.

- Booze store = 86 and Amsterdam.

- Good deal.